Game Thread. #1/1 Notre Dame vs #9/8 OSU.

I have faith in Rueck to find a way to shore up the middle. We don't need offense from the 5, we need defense and rebounding. I think Patricia Morris has to be part of the answer. She is already better defensively, and, much better rebounder than is Jo Grymek. Jo Grymek cannot secure a rebound unless it falls directly in her hands, and then she better have an OSU player to immediately hand it off to or it will be swiped by the opposing team. Maddie & Janessa are pretty solid defensively, but they are not tall enough to handle Anigwe,Baylor bigs, ND bigs, etc. I'm glad Rueck is head coach and not some of the people who believe we are going to struggle in every game, and are going to have a "down" year.

Patricia Morris doesn't have enough minutes to make a fair comparison. Give her the same number of minutes (with the starters), and the stats will weigh in Trish's favor. For you to throw stats out with such a small sample size (for Trish) is the equivalent of saying that Jasmine Simmons assist to turnover ratio is better than (fill in the blank with one of the starters). Jasmine doesn't yet have enough time on the court to make a comparison, and neither does Trish.  Furthermore, I'm looking at the upside with Trish vs Jo.  Trish has much better upside than Jo.  Is Jo better than last year.  Yes, but in my view, not by much.

I just finished watching the ND game, so I will add my observations here for what they are worth.....

- Mabrey is a nice player for ND - her showing up with fresh legs in this game was a big difference maker.
- Even with our shortcomings at the post position this year, we could mostly keep up with ND, and in fact keep them off balance for 75% of the game. Who knows how this plays out if we weren't on game 3, suffering foul trouble, etc., but that cuts both ways - ND likely shoots better at the FT line and that could be the difference.
- I (begrudgingly) like Muffet's calm demeanor. I guess when you have been subjected to coat throwing and scary ASU coach, the bar is low, but she coaches somewhat like SR.
- I hope more of her coaching rubs off on that Arike ND player - one of those very talented but "edgy" players - not high on sportsmanship....
- Thropay needs to gamble less.....most teams won't give her 8 steals. I like her physical though somewhat undersized presence in the paint.
- KTMac represents our best mismatch in most every game, but I just don't know if we can get her to be just a bit more selfish about going and getting hers. Was a little bummed she didn't have awareness of the shotclock running down on one play, but she brings a lot to the table....
- Jo needs to "chin the ball" on those rebounds......she does not draw the ball into her body (many times she is fumbling around securing the board, and those with active hands around her make hay of that situation). I think we may still see improvement here, as I noticed she was doing better securing passes headed for her, though they were a bit more predictable than a board. But we lost several boards after she got both hands on the ball.
- AG represents a good changeup to DS, her growth trajectory is phenomenal. She has this overarm passing motion that seems to take a split second longer than DS snap passes, and it seemed like ND got their hands in the passing lane a bit more with Aleah than DS.
- Pivec will not get the pub, but man does she get the stats. What a great all-around talent. And still growing.....
- I love PM's energy, but I think we will see Jo trot out there first for many more games, and maybe much of the season......PM needs to not move on screens and let her guard run the opponent into her, and she also needs to play 6'7" (transition from defensive stance to straight up and down make the shot hard is still lagging). That said, she is oozing potential and I suspect with Ruth-esque effort could get to similar heights
- We have still not found a 4 that is a Deven Hunter - we either have a couple "in the paint, do the dirty work" type with a suspect midrange jumper and limited ability at the arc, or we have skill at the arc and some driving but without as much "dirty work". I suspect TC becomes that person, just a soph, but not there yet. With our loss of Marie, the need for growth at forward also will be more visible this year. I may also be remembering Deven a little more fondly than justified for her all around game, but indulge me here......TC has to stay out of foul trouble, since the drop off from what she brings to the table is still significant. A couple of her fouls might have been avoidable on fresher legs.
- With fresh legs, DS is a game changer. She can blow by anyone. Those were some top shelf All American types guarding her on the perimeter, and even though she was often schooling their less experienced guards, she brings something to the Beavers that we have never had in "shotclock running down" situations. I am excited for what this may mean as we get deeper into the season and some of these other folks develop more, but complete intrigued by what she will do with AA, Taylor Jones and Kennedy Brown added to the mix next year, when there could be mismatches at 3 or 4 positions on the floor
- Fouls were called consistently inconsistent, but I didn't see huge advantage one way or the other. As both teams tired, the game got a bit sloppier......while the refs could have been more vengeful on Arike's poor sportsmanship, they did penalize her.
- Late in the game, they looked like a top 5 team, and we, throughout this tournament looked like a top 10 team......this is due to masterful coaching by SR (Scott Wreck, if you heard the ND announcer), since we are quite honestly dealing with some limitations in the paint (or, alternatively, we have been spoiled by WNBA draft picks patrolling the paint for most of the SR era).
- Would have liked to see SR spell starters with Jazz a minute or two more this game, though it likely would not have made the difference. And the fact he didn't might say something about where SR thinks she is at yet, or he might not have wanted to "throw her to the wolves" this early.

Very encouraging game. In a transition year, we are still skilled enough to host and be a high seed, and that is the case early in the season. I expect SR to somehow turn this team's less-than-optimal paint situation into some sort of asset as we get deeper into the season. Fun times ahead. I still remain convinced that just with the talent we will have in the coming 2-3 years we will cement our place in the league of blue bloods, as I think this early season game with ND shows us to be on our way. And if we can pull a few rabbits out of the hat on recruiting top-25 perimeter types this coming recruiting cycle, we will be able to be the "other Stanford" in the Pac-12.

Go Beavers!

Good stuff! I guess it is finally time for me to watch the game. I paid for the 3 games, but only watched the first two so far.

A couple of thoughts on 2ndgens excellent write up.

Yes on Jo's protecting the ball. But she's waaaay better than at the beginning of last year and continues to improve.

Trish is improving way past what I figured she would this season, but no, expecting her to start/play significant minutes this season is not realistic to me anyway.

I've been thinking on Destiny and I think she's in kind of a weird spot. In age she is a junior, in playing time she is a soph, and in playing with the Beav's she is a frosh. I think that this means that her one on one skills are clearly superior, while her passing ability matching up to her teammates is less so. That unspoken knowledge of when and where to pass just isn't there yet. As they and she gain that understanding I think this team will take off.

Jazz is there defensively already I think, but her offense is still a work in progress. Unfortunately for her there are already lots of very good guards ahead of her for her to get much playing time. But if she hangs in there she should get plenty of playing time next year with KtMc's graduation.

I agree. Watching a top-15 team get obliterated by a team that we played above for ~50% of the game and even with for ~25% of the game was encouraging.